October 30, 2017 /Photography News/ These two lovely retro cameras were made using the wonderful For Mother and For Father papers, but any other type of retro paper will do. A hidden back box on the camera opens to hold photos.

1. Cut and score the 4 pieces. Notice that 2 of the pieces have a certain side zigzag score line pattern while the other 2 have the opposite zigzag score line pattern. It’s difficult to see the side zigzag score lines in the below photos. Fold each piece like a fan making sure the mountain fold has the zigzag point at the score line. The valley folds will have the zigzag point at the outer edge of the paper. Each 2 pieces that have the same zig-zag score lines will be assembled opposite each other on the bellows.

2. Begin folding the side zigzag score lines. You will fold in the mountains and keep the valleys out as shown below:

3. Now repeat this with all 4 of the bellow pieces. Notice below that one piece has zigzag fold lines going the same direction, and one piece has zigzag fold lines going the opposite direction. This will allow the pieces to fit together correctly when assembled.

4. Unfold and apply score tape right next to the long score line on the zigzags as shown below on both sides of one of the pieces.

5. Refold the piece back into position and remove the paper backing from the Score-Tape. Take one of the pieces with the opposite score lines and hold it 90 degrees apart and begin adhering the sides together as shown:

6. Repeat with the other side and your bellows will be almost complete with 3 sides now attached.

7. Now with the final piece, apply Score-Tape as shown earlier and attach to the exposed sides of the formed bellows the same way you did above and your bellows is finished!

BOX INSTRUCTIONS:

This project consists of 4 boxes and 3 of these are made with 1/8″ thick chipboard. The upright box is essentially an opened box inserted inside the lid as shown:

1. upright box lid: cut the following pieces of chipboard:

BASE 3 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ x 1

4 1/2 x 1 1/4 x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s long sides

3 1/4 x 1/14 x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s short sides sandwiching between the long sides

2. inner box: cut the following pieces of chipboard:

BASE 4 1/4″ x 3 1/4″

4 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s long sides

3″ x 1 1/2″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s short sides sandwiching between the long sides.

3. bottom box: cut the following piece of chipboard:

BASE BOTTOM 4 1/4″ x 3 1/2″

4 1/4″ x 3/4″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s long sides

3 1/4″ x 3/4″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s short sides sandwiching between the long sides.

BASE TOP 4 1/4″ x 3 1/2″ adhere this to the top of all the above sides

CAMERA LENS FRONT BOX:

BASE BOTTOM: 2 1/4″ x 2 5/8″

2 5/8″ x 3/4″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s long sides

2″ x 3/4″ x 2 adhere these pieces to the BASE’s short sides sandwiching between the long sides.

BASE TOP: 2 1/4″ x 2 5/8″ adhere this to the top of all the above sides

After assembling all the chipboard boxes, cover them with decorative paper.

Apply hinges to attach the upright box and the bottom box to connect them. It’s hard to see these hinges in the pictures above.

Attach the camera lens box to the front (smaller end) of the bellows.

Attach the bellows to the box sides as shown above.

Add decorative elements.

4. OPTIONAL BACK BOX for holding small photos (not pictured)

This back box is not necessary for the overall camera design. If you do want to include this however, it measures 3 1/2″ length by 3″ width by 1/2″ depth and should be centered over the back. Mine was just made with card stock and decorative paper.

The bottom part of the flash attachment was made by just rolling up some decorative paper. The top flash was made by cutting a circle. Make a straight cut to the exact center of this circle and then overlap the cut edges to make a dimensional wide cone.

October 28, 2017 /Photography News/
131 years ago today, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York Harbor, when France dedicated the monument to celebrate "the
Alliance of the two Nations in achieving the Independence of the United
States of America and attests their abiding friendship."

Here is a wonderful collection of photos showing the Statue of Liberty under construction:

Album de la construction de la Statue de
la Liberté. 1883. Photographs by Albert Fernique
(1841-1898)

Model of the Statue of Liberty. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository: The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Men in a workshop hammering sheets of copper for the construction of
the Statue of Liberty.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository: The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Construction of the skeleton and plaster surface of the left arm and
hand of the Statue of Liberty.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

Men at work at the construction of the Statue of Liberty. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[View of the workshop, with models of the Statue of Liberty in the background.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Men in a workshop shaping sheets of copper for the construction of the
Statue of Liberty.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Head of the Statue of Liberty on display in a park in Paris.]. Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[View of the external area of the workshop in Paris, showing
construction materials, the head of the Statue of Liberty, and a group
of men gathered in front of the left foot of the statue.]. Fernique,
Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Assemblage of the Statue of Liberty in Paris, showing the bottom half
of the statue erect under scaffolding, the head and torch at its feet.].
Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.

[Assemblage of the Statue of Liberty in Paris.]
Fernique, Albert -- Photographer. 1883. Source: Album de la construction de la Statue de la Liberte. Repository:
The New York Public Library. Photography Collection, Miriam
and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs

October 28, 2017 /Photography News/ Born 161 years ago today, on 28 October 1856, Mary Dorothea Frederica Steen was a Danish photographer and feminist. In 1884, at the age of 28, she opened a studio in Copenhagen where she specialized in indoor photography, a difficult art at a time when electricity was not widespread. The photographs she took at the Flerons' house on Copenhagen's Vesterbrogade are among the first showing people inside their own homes. She later became Denmark's first female court photographer, working not only with the Danish royals but with the British royal family too. Around 1895, Princess Alexandra invited her to London where she photographed members of the royal family, including Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

Mary Steen also played an important part in improving conditions for female workers and encouraging women to take up the profession of photography. In 1891, she was the first woman on the board of the Danish Photographers Association. She was also active in the Danish Women's Society (Dansk Kvindesamfund) where she sat on the board from 1889–1892. Together with Julie Laurberg, she photographed the leading figures in the Danish women's movement. In 1891, she received a grant from the Reiersenske Fond, a trade association, which allowed her to travel to Germany and Vienna.

She campaigned for better working conditions for women including eight days holiday and a half day off on Sundays. She treated her own staff well, paying good wages. Her example was widely followed.

As a result of growing deafness, she closed her studio in 1918. She died on 7 April 1939.

Gomma Grant is open to everyone. Any medium, black & white or colour, analogue or digital. What we are looking for is consistency, personality and courage. Photographers that have been recognized through the Gomma Grant are known to have evolved their career to a higher level, both professionally and artistically.

Motion picture scene, 1916. This image was collected by filmmaker William "Billy" Bletcher (1894-1979) while working for the Vim Comedy Company between 1915 and 1917. The small film studio was based in Jacksonville and New York. The company produced hundreds of two-reel comedies (over 156 comedies in 1916 alone). Before going out of business in 1917, it employed such stars as Oliver Hardy, Ethel Burton, Walter Stull, Arvid Gillstrom, and Kate Price. Ethel Burton (Palmer) was a popular comedic actress who made her debut with Vitagraph Pictures in 1915. She co-starred in several Billy West comedies (a popular Charlie Chaplin imitator), and was married to director Arvid Gillstrom, a Swedish-born filmmaker who directed many of the West comedies. Burton did little acting after the 1910s. Most of the films she made in Florida were with the Vim Comedy Company. Tallahassee pennant in the background. L-R: Ethel Burton Palmer, Bobby Burns, and Walter Stull.

Motion picture scene, 1916. Ethel Burton Palmer is to the left and an unknown actor to the right. Ethel Burton (Palmer) was a popular comedic actress who made her debut with Vitagraph Pictures in 1915. She co-starred in several Billy West comedies (a popular Charlie Chaplin imitator), and was married to director Arvid Gillstrom, a Swedish-born filmmaker who directed many of the West comedies. Burton did little acting after the 1910s. Most of the films she made in Florida were with the Vim Comedy Company.

September 16, 2017 /Photography News/
General Motors, also known as GM, was founded on 16 September 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant. At the turn of the 20th century there were fewer than 8,000 automobiles
in America and Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn
vehicles in Flint, MI, before making his foray into the automotive
industry. Today GM employs more than 200,000 people around the world.

September 13, 2017 /Photography News/ Born 57 years ago, on 13 September 1960 (d. 27 July 1994), Kevin Carter was an award-winning South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan. Following the winning of the Pulitzer Prize he committed suicide at the age of 33.

In March 1993, while on a trip to Sudan, Carter was preparing to photograph a starving toddler trying to reach a feeding center when a hooded vulture landed nearby. Carter reported taking the picture, because it was his "job title", and leaving.

Sold to the New York Times, the photograph first appeared on 26 March 1993 and was carried in many other newspapers around the world. Hundreds of people contacted the Times to ask the fate of the girl. The paper reported that it was unknown whether she had managed to reach the feeding center. On May 23, 14 months after capturing that memorable scene, Carter walked up to the platform in the classical rotunda of Columbia University's Low Memorial Library and received the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.

With the success of the image came a lot of controversy, and questions were raised about the ethics of taking such a photograph. An article printed in 1994 in the St Petersberg Times commented on the morality of Carters actions, ‘the man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene,’ (Stamets cited in Ricchiardi, 1999).

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) have a ‘Code of Ethics’ which sets out certain ethical responsibilities when carrying out journalistic work, one reads as thus, ‘while photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events’ (NPPA, 2010). Considering this, one can say Carter was objective and documented what he saw, capturing the severity of the situation in Sudan. But does this alleviate him from the responsibilities of being a good human being?

On 27 July 1994 Carter drove his way to the Braamfonte near the Field and Study Centre, an area where he used to play as a child, and took his own life by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the driver's side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning, aged 33. Portions of Carter's suicide note read:

"I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners ... I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."

Carter's story is depicted in the 2010 feature film, The Bang-Bang-Club in which he was played by Taylor Kitsch.

The Second World War (1939-1945) is generally accepted to have begun 78 years ago today, on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany, and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France, Britain and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth.

These photographs show the men and women who served in World War II, 1939-1945. They are from the collections of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, and the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands.

Farewell, n.d., between 1940-1945, by Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales

6th Division arrives at the wharves, 9-10 January 1940, by Sam Hood. Note: Sydney - Berlin was the aim, but High Command had other ideas. The 6th Division was largely responsible for the defeat of Italy in the Middle East, then moved on to Greece and New Guinea. This photo is from a collection depicting the wartime departure of the 6th Division for the Middle East, 9-10 January 1940. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

Second World War. German soldier in a tank. [possibly a Renault UE, a French made "Armored Tractor" or "Infantry Supply Vehicle"; designed for utility work, used and modified by the Germans]. German soldiers are helping the French farmers plough their fields. France, 1941. From the collection of the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands.

This photo is from a collection depicting the wartime departure of the 6th Division for the Middle East, from Sidney, 9-10 January 1940. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

Soldier's goodbye and Bobbie the cat, between 1939-1945, by Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

Wounded and invalids. German wounded return their empty coffee cups to Red Cross nurses just prior to departure. Location unknown. 1941. From the collection of the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands.

War loans displays, State Theatre, Sidney, October 20, 1943, by Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

April 11, 1945, Deventer, the Netherlands. From the collection of the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands.

Liberation of the concentration camp Amersfoort. Three Dutch army officers behind barbed wire. From the collection of the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands.

Starved prisoners, nearly dead from hunger, pose in concentration camp in Ebensee, Austria. The camp was reputedly used for "scientific" experiments. It was liberated by the 80th Division. 7 May 1945. Author: Samuelson, Lt. A. E.